In this article, it examines if the use of technology have been affecting the potential of young mind to analyze things such as problem solving and being creative. It states that, “The increased potential of enriched information offered by the Internet was more than what the brain could handle. The evolution of the information delivery system was running ahead of the brain’s ability to take advantage of assimilating the material. It should be noted that most of the research reviewed in the aforementioned meta-analysis focused on the effects of short-term memory as opposed to creativity and higher-order thinking, which may be much harder to analyze and operationalize.” It shows that too much information we receive from technology can be too much for our minds and it may not be quite ready for it. The article explains how people used their minds in the past centuries even going 10 million years behind, way before technology came along. People were able to be so much more creative and find ways to do things on their own. They had to use their mind often and be able to have motivation to be creative.

The most important information to take out of this article is that back when technology did not exist, people were more capable of handling things on their own and analyze situations in a whole different way. Now we have technology to do all of this for us. Which basically is the lazy way since we are letting a device handle our problems. Before the technology, it seemed like people were more interested in finding out new things and discovering things. But now that we have technology right before our eyes, people choose to not even discover anything new; we let things come to us instead. Like what the article said, “Although reading did not have a direct relationship with creativity, it did supply the foundation on which creative thoughts flourished. Let’s hope enhanced brain functions that result from using digital sources will compensate for traits that may be lost as traditional reading skills slowly elapse.”

Rubin, J. (2012). Technology's Impact on the Creative Potential of Youth. Creativity Research Journal, 24(2/3), 252-256.

 In the article of “Higher Education and Emerging Technologies: Student Usage, Preferences, and Lessons for Library Services” by Erin Dorris Cassidy, James Britsch, Glenda Griffin, Tyler Manolovitz, Lisa Shen, and Linda Turney, the authors examined technology trends in higher education and how they impact student habits and preferences in college libraries. An educational study was used among students at the Sam Houston State University in East Texas to show the students usage of electronic devices and technologies such as text messaging, Twitter, podcasts, Really Simple Syndication feeds, and social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace, etc. The results of this study show that students do wish that basic library services were available through the most popular social networking sites and Internet technologies.

  The most important information to take out of this article and study is that college students actually do want usage of library sources to be in their technology. As stated by the authors, “On a daily basis, college students are using computers, online social networks, cell phones, text messages, Twitter, RSS feeds, wikis, blogs, online learning tools, and much more.” Students were open to the idea of receiving library news and more functions of studies through text messaging. This is a different view in technology when it comes to a college student’s study habit. How special would that be, books or review sheets or questions being sent through text messaging? Libraries should just advance in their technological ways to build on giving students a higher education. 

Cassidy, E., Britsch, J., Griffin, G., Manolovitz, T., Shen, L., & Turney, L. (2011). Higher education and emerging technologies: Student usage, preferences, and lessons for library services. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 50(4), 380-391.

In the article of “Student Reading Practices in Print and Electronic Media” by Nancy M. Foasberg, she reports a study on college student’s reading habit through regular printed books and electronic media. Students had to jot down information about their reading practices and how effective is it to them. Students preferred to use printed copies for educational purposes and reading with many print on it. They feel like they get more involved with the readings. Electronic devices have been getting used for educational purposes but students preferred to only use them for small reasons and for readings that deal with entertainment. It was said by the author that students just preferred to stay with their prints for academic readings and not use electronic media.

The most important information to get out of this is that students actually preferred the old way to read according to Foasberg. Students found electronic media harder to get connected with academic readings. With an agreement with the author, more and more academic materials have been available to electronic media. But is it really working for the students? When it comes to the study that was explained in this article, Foasberg showed that students were more interacting with the reading in printed copies. They marked up the book and they took many notes. It showed a sign of engagement like how the author stated, “Other practices may be important to academic reading, including skimming to get an idea of the content, scanning for a specific piece of information, and moving nonsequentially among different sections of the material.” This is mostly done in printed copies of books and not really electronically. The final data from this study is that students tend to fall behind in their readings and study habit with the use of electronic media.

 Foasberg, N. M. (2014). Student reading practices in print and electronic media. College & Research Libraries, 75(5), 705-723.

In the article “Digital literacies in higher education: exploring textual and technological practice” by Mary R. Lea, she evaluates the problems that are usually faced with students especially undergraduates that are so into their technology every single day. They constantly use social media almost all of the time and this has been making it difficult to be more involved in study habits, such as academic reading and writing essays. Lea examines this issue through a literacies lens. The project findings show the relationship between literacies and technologies with the potential to devastate the traditional academic literacy practices. However, technology also offers a strong sense of guidance to help students complete a task or access and utilize web-based resources for their assignment. The author suggest that, “In order to understand the changes that are taking place for learners in today's higher education, more attention needs to be paid to textual practice around learning and less to the technologies and their applications.”

The most important information to take out of this article is that you have to balance out the use of technology and literacies. Students should be able to read books to find out information and gain knowledge while doing it unlike just typing the question on Google and finding the answer quickly. They gain a lack of information by taking that route. By gaining your skill in literacy, you are more capable of knowing more and processing more ideas in your mind. It helps your study habit get more advanced. Technology tends to just distract a student after a short period of time. It is only useful for certain amount of things when it comes to literacy but it still is difficult to use it in your everyday study habit. 

Lea, M. R., & Jones, S. (2011). Digital literacies in higher education: Exploring textual and technological practice. Studies In Higher Education, 36(4), 377-393.